"Low price zone" fetal movement

Following on July 25, 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of the first batch of excess capacity elimination companies this year, the president of the China Federation of Industrial Economics Li Yizhong revealed on the 31st that the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology are taking the lead in researching and formulating overcapacity. Overall plan. The central government's determination to attack overcapacity has also caused some steel, electrolytic aluminum and other overcapacity, and high-energy-consuming enterprises to have doubts about the need for steel and electrolytic aluminum in China's development.

If necessary, where should these projects go? The reporter learned from the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission and other official sources that the province’s plan to build the first “low-price electricity price zone” in Yulin City is accelerating its implementation and strives to fully realize it by the end of the year. The drop in industrial electricity price per degree in the region is expected to be around 0.05 yuan/kWh.

After the concept of the “low-price electricity price zone” mentioned above was introduced, it would inject a “stimulant” into the high-energy-consuming industries in northern Shaanxi where the price of electricity will be determined. Some industry sources have expressed that if Shaanxi establishes Yulin's "low-price electricity price zone," it will surely lead Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu and other neighboring provinces to follow suit and set up a "low-price electricity price zone." This will induce an incentive for the entire high-energy-consuming industry, and may also lead some energy-intensive enterprises with excess capacity to collectively transfer to the western provinces. By then, the "low-price electricity price zone" will become a "preferential electricity price zone" for high-energy-consuming industries. .

Electricity price highlights regional competition On July 30, 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Department of Raw Materials Industry (Nonferrous Metals Division) announced 12 companies with excess magnesium smelting capacity, of which half were from Yulin, Shaanxi. However, coincidentally, on the previous July 25, the Shaanxi Provincial Price Department officially announced that it would build Yulin's “low-price electricity price zone” to promote local economic growth.

"The news of Yulin's "low price zone" has spread all over Yulin's enterprises in May, but I didn't expect the research work in Shaanxi Province to be so fast." Some of the six companies interviewed this reporter All times said that if the electricity pricing policy is announced in accordance with the Shaanxi Provincial Price Bureau, the company will greatly reduce costs.

According to information from reporters, as early as the beginning of the second quarter, Shaanxi Province began to implement the idea of ​​making Yulin City the first "low-price electricity zone" in China. At that time, many Shaanxi provinces and central ministries and commissions, including the Shaanxi Province Development and Reform Commission, the Price Bureau, the State Electricity Regulatory Bureau Northwest Bureau of Supervision, the Northwest Power Grid, Shaanxi Provincial Local Electric Power Group Corporation, Yulin City, and other vertical management departments, stepped in and started. Intensive planning.

"This year's economic environment is really too bad. We should have long considered the survival conditions of these companies. Especially the price of electricity should have already dropped." Zhang Bo, a manager of a coal company in Fugu County, Yulin, Shaanxi Province The reporter said. Although he is mainly coal, his industry is widely involved in metallurgy and calcium carbide industries. The price of electricity has always been a matter of concern to his company. Once the price of electricity in the immediate vicinity of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia provinces was lower than the electricity price in Shaanxi Province, he even thought of transferring some industries that are too dependent on electricity prices to Inner Mongolia or Ningxia.

"Now it seems that this idea is redundant." He said that he noticed that after the integration of SERC into the National Energy Administration, he has introduced a series of favorable policies, such as reducing the electricity prices of agricultural products in the logistics sector. As well as the recent launch of the consolidation of many of the original electricity prices into three categories, it indicates that it is possible to benefit large industries. But "I didn't think the good news would come so fast."

However, in view of the local regional economic researchers, Shaanxi Province has pushed Yulin to create a “low-price electricity price zone”, in fact, in order to obtain regional competitiveness. He pointed out that although Shaanxi is a major province of energy, Shaanxi's electricity use is mainly dependent on neighboring provinces, especially Yulin. It is reported that in 2012, Yulin Power Grid purchased 3.415 billion kwh of electricity from Ningxia, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, while Shaanxi Power Grid's coal-fired power plant in Yulin has only 4400 hours of power utilization due to insufficient electricity load.

Shaanxi is a dual-network power supply area and has two major power grids, namely the national power grid and local power grids. Although there will be competition within the region, Shaanxi's electricity prices will still be higher than Inner Mongolia and Ningxia by 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. Therefore, in the energy golden triangle of the same energy-rich region, Shaanxi Province, compared with the two major autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, the prices of resource elements such as electricity prices do not have a direct advantage.

Although Yulin shouted out to build China's first “low-price electricity price zone”, it was not Shaanxi that took the lead in cutting prices in the west. As early as June 5 of this year, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region once again reiterated the "Implementation Opinions on Maintaining the Advantages of the Autonomous Region's Low Electricity Prices Trial". The comments clearly stated that maintaining low electricity prices is the development of Xinjiang's characteristic advantageous industries and the acceleration of new industrialization in Xinjiang. According to the statistical data for 2012, the electricity price of the self-provided power plant in Xinjiang is around 0.2 yuan/kWh, which is 0.3 yuan/kWh lower than that in Henan and Shandong, the main producing areas for electrolytic aluminum. It is precisely because of the low price of electricity and the abundance of coal resources. As a result, only Xinjiang Autonomous Region has seen the construction of the steel capacity under construction and proposed construction of more than 30 million tons.

Obviously, in the economic slowdown environment, the price competition among the western energy provinces has only just begun.

The news that induced the high energy-consuming industry to enter the “low-price zone” of the west has been heard. No matter whether it is the local power grid or the business telephone of the national grid power department, it has continued to ring.

The staff of the State Grid Yulin Power Supply Branch told this reporter that many company personnel have started to consult relevant information on the "low price zone" in the past few days. The most inquired question is when the company began to enjoy low electricity prices. “However, we Yulin Branch did not receive any relevant documents or notice from the parent unit, so we still need to wait,” he said.

The reporter noticed that in the investigation of the “low price zone” of Yulin by the Shaanxi Provincial Price Bureau, it has been clearly stated that the price of electricity for residential life, general industry and commerce, and agricultural production and sales will not be adjusted temporarily, and the price reduction space will be used to reduce the price of large industrial electricity.

Shanxi Provincial Local Electric Power Corporation Yulin Branch also encountered the above consulting problems, but local power grid 96789 staff told reporters that many consultants are planning to build high energy-consuming projects in Yulin, so the focus of their inquiry is where to invest in Yulin City And how can it be included in the "low price zone" policy.

Although Shaanxi Province has not yet made clear the specific implementation plan for Yulin's “low-price electricity pricing zone,” our reporter was informed that the main core content of Yulin’s “low-voltage electricity pricing zone” is direct purchase of electricity by large users, that is, for power generation companies and electricity use. Customers directly connect with each other, omitting intermediate links, so as to benefit customers.

"For direct purchase of electricity, people who are familiar with electricity know that direct purchase of electricity is an attempt to reform the electricity system. Its purpose is to break the pattern of exclusive trading of electricity by grid companies and introduce competitive mechanisms on the side of electricity generation and sale, while making End-customers entered the market and promoted the establishment of an open electricity market,” a management staff member of Shaanxi Local Electric Power Group told reporters.

“At present, China’s electricity tariff structure is relatively complex, including the Three Gorges Construction Fund, government funds, and vascular management. Once the electricity price is directly purchased, it will inevitably save corresponding surcharges.” The management also said that in accordance with relevant regulations, power generation companies It does not have the qualifications and rights for power supply and therefore does not have the right to sign direct purchase and sales contracts with users. Therefore, the relevant policies for the direct purchase of electricity are more explicit.

It is worth noting that in the "Opinions on Deepening the Major Work of Economic System Reform in 2013" released in May this year, the trials of promoting large-scale direct power purchasing and power-supply-side power system reform were highlighted.

Will the low electricity price zone alleviate the operational difficulties of the company and whether it will lead to the transfer of some high energy-consuming projects to the low-price zone?

In response, an official of the Yulin Development and Reform Commission stated that basically all large projects rely on electricity, which is similar to some industries with overcapacity. However, Yulin’s investment in large-scale projects will be strictly controlled, especially for some projects that use high energy and heavy pollution.

"Now that the economy as a whole is in recession, as long as there are large investment projects, local governments will try their best to meet various requirements of enterprises. Some local governments even want to introduce major investments, even if they know that the industry is to control production capacity, they must disguise them for disguise. "For the above-mentioned opinions of the Yulin Development and Reform Commission, it is difficult for the people in the industry to implement it in reality.

According to the above-mentioned industry sources, although some companies are wearing aluminum-magnesium alloys and other famous names, in fact, these companies are mainly engaged in electrolytic aluminum. “The current utilization rate of electrolytic aluminum is already less than 75%, which is in line with steel and belongs to the industry with serious overcapacity. However, local governments have not rejected this company.” He thinks this also shows that local governments are opening up to attract high prices. The energy-consuming industry accelerates the west gate.

The reporter recently discovered in the investigations in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia that there are indeed some companies such as Deyi Steel and Shenyin Special Steel that have neither National Development and Reform Commission nor formalities for the environmental assessment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Silently launched. Their common feature is the huge amount of investment that can generate huge profits and taxes locally. For local governments affected by the economic slowdown and tax cuts, it is indeed difficult to say “no” to “the God of Wealth”.

“Actually, the introduction of the concept of “low-price electricity pricing zone” aims to create an attractive investment environment in regional investment promotion. Therefore, preferential policies for western electricity pricing will inevitably attract the presence of some major projects, which of course will also include Those industries with overcapacity, such as Chi Jingdong, deputy secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association and chief analyst, pointed out that high-energy-consuming industries pointed out.